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BMW Charger

I have one of the grey BMW battery charger. Everytime I plug it into my scoot (r1200rt), the green and the red light comes on. The red light says error. I think it's charging anyway. Have you guys seen this>

Are you turning the ignition on first, then plugging the charger in, then turning the ignition off? The CANBUS system shuts the port down after ~30secs and that could be the cause of the error. If that is the case, the battery is not being charged.

Technically you can plug the charger in within ~30secs of shutting it off, but I find it easier to just flip the ignition than guess if I was quick enough or not.

What year and model? My 2005 R1200GS required a odd ritual to enable charging (and would require it to resume charging after power outages), my 2011 R1200R just starts charging as soon as it is plugged in.

I tried turning the key on first and them plugging it in but that didn't make a difference. If I start the ending, the red light goes off for a while and then comes back on. Is there a reason why I can't just put a pick tail on the battery and plug a battery tender into it? (2007 rt1200rt)

I suspect it depends on the year of the motorcycle. The newer ones do not require the CANBUS ritual, older bikes do. I found out about the power outage issue when the battery for my 2005 GS was DOA in the spring. The charge had been plugged in all winder, but it had obviously stopped charging at some point.

I tried turning the key on first and them plugging it in but that didn't make a difference. If I start the ending, the red light goes off for a while and then comes back on. Is there a reason why I can't just put a pick tail on the battery and plug a battery tender into it? (2007 rt1200rt)

I think we need some more info before we can help you. What year is your motorcycle and after the initial light up, do you just see the power light on the bottom of the charger and the charge sequence across the top?

It will re run the charge sequence again, (red to green) if it senses a drop in the battery.
This seems to be a fairly ongoing thing, not at all like the old red, yellow and finally constant green stage of the older chargers.

I'm sorry I cant remember where, but this was discussed on one of the other sites either (BMW Luxury Touring, BMW SportTouring or K-Bikes) and it was a loose or reversed polarity problem to the accessory port.

Once the leads were reversed everything worked fine, including the endless cycling!

Voltage

Do you have a voltmeter with which you can check the voltage at different time intervals.

I have found that some batteries may require to charge than others. After riding for say couple of hours and the plugging the charger on my original GEL battery, red and green woul come ~10 minutes and green ~45 mins. Now with Panadonic AGM, red and green would come ~1 hour and green ~1.5 hours later.

Jim Rogers
Has the right idea optimate 4 dual, mine has the BMW pigtail, park the bike remove key and plug it (under seat) sends a signal to CANBUS and allows it to charge/condition battery. Only negative is GPS has to be unplugged or it starts up every time charger cycles
Both BMW dealers here carry them, as their in agreement that's it's a better product than the factory charger